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Cancer & Tumors

Meningioma and mobile phone use--a collaborative case-control study in five North European countries.

No Effects Found

Lahkola A, Salminen T, Raitanen J, Heinävaara S, Schoemaker M, Christensen HC, Feychting M, Johansen C, Klæboe L, Lönn S, Swerdlow A, Tynes T, Auvinen A. · 2008

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This European study found mobile phone users had lower meningioma risk, but methodological limitations prevent concluding phones are protective.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers studied 1,209 people with meningiomas (a type of brain tumor) and 3,299 healthy controls across five European countries to see if mobile phone use increases tumor risk. They found that regular mobile phone users actually had a 24% lower risk of developing meningiomas compared to non-users or occasional users. The study found no increased risk regardless of how long people used phones, how many calls they made, or what type of network they used.

Why This Matters

This large European study adds to the complex picture of mobile phone safety research, but its findings require careful interpretation. While the apparent protective effect seems counterintuitive, it likely reflects methodological limitations common in case-control studies rather than phones actually preventing tumors. The reality is that meningiomas are relatively slow-growing tumors that can take decades to develop, and this 2008 study captured mostly early mobile phone users with limited exposure duration. What this means for you is that while this particular study didn't find increased risk, it doesn't settle the broader question of long-term EMF exposure effects. The science demonstrates that we need studies tracking people over much longer periods, especially as phone use patterns and exposure levels have changed dramatically since the early mobile phone era studied here.

Study Details

To evaluate the effect of mobile phones on risk of meningioma, we carried out an international, collaborative case-control study of 1209 meningioma cases and 3299 population-based controls.

Population-based cases were identified, mostly from hospitals, and controls from national population...

Risk of meningioma among regular users of mobile phones was apparently lower than among never or non...

Our results do not provide support for an association between mobile phone use and risk of meningioma.

Cite This Study
Lahkola A, Salminen T, Raitanen J, Heinävaara S, Schoemaker M, Christensen HC, Feychting M, Johansen C, Klæboe L, Lönn S, Swerdlow A, Tynes T, Auvinen A. (2008). Meningioma and mobile phone use--a collaborative case-control study in five North European countries. Int J Epidemiol.37(6):1304-1313, 2008.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2008_meningioma_and_mobile_phone_3175,
  author = {Lahkola A and Salminen T and Raitanen J and Heinävaara S and Schoemaker M and Christensen HC and Feychting M and Johansen C and Klæboe L and Lönn S and Swerdlow A and Tynes T and Auvinen A.},
  title = {Meningioma and mobile phone use--a collaborative case-control study in five North European countries.},
  year = {2008},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18676984/},
}
PubMed: 18676984

Cited By (95 papers)

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Quick Questions About This Study

A large European study of 1,209 meningioma patients found that regular mobile phone users actually had a 24% lower risk of developing these brain tumors compared to non-users. The study found no increased risk regardless of usage duration or call frequency.
This five-country study found no difference in meningioma risk between analog and digital phone networks. Both network types showed the same protective pattern, with regular users having lower tumor rates than non-users across all phone technologies.
Research tracking phone users across multiple years found no increased meningioma risk regardless of lifetime usage duration, cumulative hours of use, or total number of calls made. Long-term users showed no elevated brain tumor rates.
The European meningioma study found similar results for both sexes and all age groups. Men and women showed the same pattern of lower tumor risk among regular phone users compared to occasional or non-users.
While regular phone users had 24% lower meningioma rates in this study, researchers don't claim phones prevent tumors. The unexpected finding likely reflects study limitations or other factors rather than phones providing actual protection against brain tumors.